Jacks drop first game at Sanford Pentagon

Sunday, November 30

Sioux Falls, S.D.

4:00 PM

South Dakota State University

Florida Gulf Coast

11/30/2014 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: SDSU Sports Info

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota State went into the locker room of Sunday's game at the Sanford Pentagon tied at 31 with FGCU, but the Eagles used a 10-0 run to open the second half to secure a 71-58 win over the Jackrabbits in front of a sold out crowd of 3,250.

The Jacks fall to 2-3 with the loss, while the Eagles improve to 6-1.

“I thought our kids played hard, but it's hard to win when you don't shoot well. We only shot 22 percent in the second half, and that puts too much pressure on everything else,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “I was pleased with our kids' effort, really pleased with it. To me that's the most important thing right now, because I felt that we hadn't gotten their best effort to this point, but I thought today we played hard, we played tough.”

The team's played close throughout the first half, which featured five ties and six lead changes. SDSU led by as many as five points on three occasions in the first half, the last being at 26-21 on a Connor Devine tip-in 4 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half.

FGCU never led by more than two points in the first half, and for less than two minutes, as the Jacks held the Eagles to 40 percent shooting overall, 12 of 30, and to 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

The Jacks shot 42 percent in the first half, 13 of 31, and went 3 for 10 from long range.

That all changed in the second half though, as the Eagles made their first three shots out of the break, including a pair of triples in the opening 10-0 run, and while they cooled off a bit, they shot 52 percent in the frame, 13 of 25, and went 4 for 5 from deep.

SDSU shot 22.6 percent in the second half, 7 of 31, and went 1 for 10 from 3-point range.

Deondre Parks led all players in the game with 18 points. Cody Larson finished with 14 points and tied for game-high honors with 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

FGCU's Brett Comer led three Eagles in double figures with 14 points. Julian DeBose added 12 and Bernard Thompson 11 points. Marc-Eddy Norelia scored eight points and tied Larson for a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Jacks look to get back in the win column on Wednesday, when they host Wayne State inside Frost Arena at 7 p.m.

NOTES: Sunday's game marked the Jackrabbits first game at the Sanford Pentagon and first regular season game in Sioux Falls since Dec. 20, 2005, when they played Manhattan at the Sioux Falls Arena ... the game also marked the first meeting between SDSU and FGCU ... Keaton Moffitt made his first-career for SDSU, and finished with four points, five rebounds and a team-high three assists in 32 minutes ... Larson's third double-double of the season gives him nine for his career ... Larson is the only Jackrabbit to score in double figures in all five games this season

FGCU recap